-----Original Message-----
From: Florence I
Schmieg [mailto:fschmieg@UDel.Edu]
Sent: Friday,
February 14, 2003 11:51 AM
To: Watson,
George H.
Cc: 'Koford,
Ken'; Griffith, Larry A.
Subject: Re: FW:
Minor in Medical Humanities
Dear Dr.
Koford, In reply to your questions regarding the requested change
in the Literature
and Medicine course in the Medical Humanities minor I
would like to
relate the following "history" of this minor as I know it.
The minor arose,
I believe, as part of the now non-existant Center for
Science and
Culture. The faculty who taught the courses in the minor were
part of that
Center as well as the departments cross-listed for those
courses. When the
Medical Scholars Program began (note this is entirely
separate from the
minor we are discussing) the director of the Medical
Scholars Program,
apparently, was the same person who had the
responsibility
for the Medical Humanities minor. While Dean Mary Richards
was dean of Arts
and Sciences the Center for Science and Culture was
disbanded and has
never been reconstituted. To keep the minor alive, it is
my understanding
that the Medical Scholars Program director continued to
administer the
minor. Over time, the directorship of Medical SCholars
changed several
times. The Medical Humanities minor, however, did not
accompany the
original director when he left (I have no knowledge of why
it did not). By
default, the minor remained as a responsibility of
whomever directed
the Medical Scholars Program. When Dr. Heywood Brock was
the director of
Medical Scholars this situation was still tenable because
he was also an
Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and
therefore had some control over S-contracts
to departments involved in the
minor to pay
faculty to teach the minor's courses. Note, this was NOT
budgeted in the
Medical Scholars Program in any way, but payed out of the
Dean's office I
presume. When Dr. Brock no longer was Medical Scholars
director he was
replaced by Dr. Roger Wagner (from Biological Sciences)
and eventually
after that by me last year. Neither Dr. Wagner nor I have
any way to hire
faculty to teach the minor's courses nor any influence on
the departments
that are involved in those courses to agree to have a
faculty member
teach. The biggest problem occured when the adjunct
professor, Dr.
Bonk??, left the University. He taught the Literature and
Medicine course.
To underline how absurd the organization of the minor is,
when he left
(while Dr. Wagner was Med Scholars director) no one even
informed him he
was leaving and the English department in no way took
responsibility because, as they say, it is a
CSSC course, not an English
course!! But
there is no CSSC. Therefore, this course has no faculty
member to teach
it. So how can it remain a required course for the
students?
That problem is
really only the tip of the iceberg regarding this minor. I
have requested a
meeting with the Educational Affairs committee, under Dr.
Eric Rise, to
speak about doing away with this minor. If there are faculty
in the College
who want this minor to continue, I feel the advisement for
this minor should
reside with a faculty member who teaches a course in the
minor. I do not,
Dr. Wagner does not, and not a single Biology course is
part of the
minor. There is no way for me or any future director of Medial
Scholars to
maintain any quality control over this minor as it exists
currently.
I am sorry to
paint such a grim picture. I still would like to have the
Literature and
Medicine requirement officially dropped as we continue to
deal with the
future of the minor. Otherwise, the students currently in
the minor are put
at a disadvantage.
Sincerely,
Dr. Florence Schmieg
On Thu, 13 Feb
2003, Watson, George H. wrote:
> Sorry,
wrong entry for Flo...
>
>
-----Original Message-----
> From:
Watson, George H.
> Sent:
Thursday, February 13, 2003 5:13 PM
> To: 'Koford,
Ken'
> Cc: Florence
I Schmieg (Business Fax); Griffith, Larry A.
> Subject: RE:
Minor in Medical Humanities
>
> Sorry for
the delay in a substantive response. I
am looping Dr. Schmieg
> into this
discussion, as she is directly involved.
Larry Griffith
generally
> oversees
curriculum revision requests in the College, so I am looping him
in
> also. He has shared with me an electronic copy of
the request for
revision
> that was
submitted (attached).
>
> I think that
Dr. Schmieg accurately conveys the rationale and
justification
> for the
request. I interpret the comment 'This minor actually has no real
> home
currently.' to mean that it is not currently administered by an
> academic
department. And she is correct, as
director of the Medical
> Scholars
Program and, by default, undergraduate adviser for the Medical
> Humanities
minor, she is not provided with funds to staff courses.
Courses
> for this
minor are offered at the pleasure of the host departments as they
> are able.
>
> I believe
that the request to eliminate the course in question from the
> required
list is a sound one, as I understand that it will no longer be
> offered by
the Department of English. As I read
the description of the
> minor in the
first two paragraphs under 'b. Summary of Program' it does
not
> strike me
that the course 'Literature and Medicine' is an essential
element.
>
> I hope my
comments above are helpful. Larry or
Flo may be able to answer
> other
questions your committee may have about the request, as they have
> shepparded
it to this point.
>
> George
Watson
> Associate
Dean Gosh darn the
torpedoes,
> College of
Arts & Science full speed
ahead!
> University
of Delaware
>
>
-----Original Message-----
> From:
Koford, Ken [mailto:kofordk@lerner.udel.edu]
> Sent:
Wednesday, February 12, 2003 8:03 PM
> To:
'ghw@udel.edu'
> Subject:
Minor in Medical Humanities
>
> Dean
Watson, It was suggested that I contact
you about this minor and the
> small change
proposed for a program change. I think
that if the current
> proposal
were reviewed by our committee, we would wonder what is happening
> with the
minor.
> Shouldn't
Literature and Medicine really have to be taught for this minor
to
> make sense?
> How can we
pass a proposal that currently says "This minor actually has no
> real home
currently".
>
> I think that
this proposal is in your area, since it is under Dr. Florence
> Schmieg in
Biology.
>
> What is
going on???
>
> Kenneth
Koford